It's been such a profound year. I've come home to the light, joy, spaciousness, and connection that is most native to my entire system. My natural tendency towards solitude has proven fruitful in cultivating contentment and clarity, allowing me to sense and know my inherent embodied wisdom and to make choices that are in alignment with that wisdom. A part of this process has been the shedding of relationships and dynamics that aren't aligned with my core understanding of authentic living. A process that a friend so accurately called a "watershed moment". In listening deeply, I've heard my body speak truths, calling on an ancient wisdom too refined for the language of intellect. My intellect is finally catching up and beginning to assimilate and share. One unsettling discovery that I've made is that what I've been moving away from; those people, places, and dynamics where my embodied light hardly shines back at me, are essentially rooted in disembodied white supremacy culture. My body was screaming out a big "NO!" and has been for years when I've encountered people, organizations, relationships, etc. in which the characteristics of white supremacy were abrasively grinding against me.
Like many people who live with courage, clarity, and directness, I've often become the villain in other people's stories for pointing out the disconnection and dysfunction of white supremacy culture that I had sensed and could hardly articulate, but which was blaringly loud to the parts of me that know freedom and crave... no, demand to actualize it. Those parts of me demand another paradigm for which to thrive in. A paradigm that is in the body rather than the intellect. A paradigm that is made of creativity rather than consumption and destruction, where we are makers bringing beauty into the world, tenders and caregivers. A paradigm where we repair in relationship rather than discard, punish, and cancel. A paradigm where we release our preoccupation with individual comforts and move towards connectedness, using each moment to realize and ground in the truly relational nature of existence. A paradigm where our interconnection is felt in our bones. A paradigm where shame is replaced with curiosity and learning is prioritized over knowing. A paradigm where the aliveness in our bodies is treated with care rather than abandoned or disconnected from. A paradigm where there is a place for intuition and other ways of knowing. A paradigm where we trade in our impulse for control and domination for non-forcing and surrender into the flow of each moment. And most of all, a paradigm where we release our standards of a "right way of being" (the white way of being) and instead call on the wordless wisdom of our subtle self that reminds us of our natural way and rhythm.
Another paradigm is possible. Yes, it will ask everything of us. It will ask us to fully commit to being critically engaged with our behavior, world, and internal landscape. It will ask us to go slowly and gently. It will ask us us to open when we feel scared and to close when we've over extended. It will ask us to let go of the familiar and to release the old paradigm and the privileges, comforts, and relationships it affords us. There will be grief and vulnerability. Another paradigm asks us to discover a self that we've longed to remember but were told by the dominant culture we were not allowed to access. We must venture bravely into our intrinsic riches, as doing so is a radical act that is vehemently in opposition to the systems of oppression that have demanded that we forget who we really are, how we really move, and how much love we're capable of.
I think it's important that we all become familiar with the characteristics of white supremacy culture and so I'll leave you with Tema Okun's Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture from their 2001 workbook which has been expanded upon on their website. While the text below was originally written with organizations in mind, white supremacy culture can be found in family systems, individual relationships, organizations, governments, businesses, in the therapy room, within the relationship structures we choose, within our grassroots organizing efforts, within our art communities, in our places of worship, and of course in our own minds.
White Supremacy Culture
From Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, ChangeWork, 2001
This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our
organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same
time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are
damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively
named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white
supremacy thinking. They are damaging to both people of color and to white
people. Organizations that are people of color led or a majority people of color can
also demonstrate many damaging characteristics of white supremacy culture.
Perfectionism
• little appreciation expressed among people for the work that others are
doing; appreciation that is expressed usually directed to those who get most
of the credit anyway
• more common is to point out either how the person or work is inadequate
• or even more common, to talk to others about the inadequacies of a person or
their work without ever talking directly to them
• mistakes are seen as personal, i.e. they reflect badly on the person making
them as opposed to being seen for what they are ó mistakes
• making a mistake is confused with being a mistake, doing wrong with being
wrong
• little time, energy, or money put into reflection or identifying lessons learned
that can improve practice, in other words little or no learning from mistakes
• tendency to identify what's wrong; little ability to identify, name, and
appreciate what's right
Sense of Urgency
• continued sense of urgency that makes it difficult to take time to be
inclusive, encourage democratic and/or thoughtful decision-making, to think
long-term, to consider consequences
• frequently results in sacrificing potential allies for quick or highly visible
results, for example sacrificing interests of communities of color in order to
win victories for white people (seen as default or norm community)
• reinforced by funding proposals which promise too much work for too little
money and by funders who expect too much for too little
Defensiveness
• the organizational structure is set up and much energy spent trying to prevent
abuse and protect power as it exists rather than to facilitate the best out of
each person or to clarify who has power and how they are expected to use it
• because of either/or thinking (see below), criticism of those with power is
viewed as threatening and inappropriate (or rude)
• people respond to new or challenging ideas with defensiveness, making it
very difficult to raise these ideas
• a lot of energy in the organization is spent trying to make sure that people's
feelings aren't getting hurt or working around defensive people
• the defensiveness of people in power creates an oppressive culture
antidotes: understand that structure cannot in and of itself facilitate or
prevent abuse; understand the link between defensiveness and fear (of losing
power, losing face, losing comfort, losing privilege); work on your own
defensiveness; name defensiveness as a problem when it is one; give people
credit for being able to handle more than you think; discuss the ways in which
defensiveness or resistance to new ideas gets in the way of the mission
Quantity Over Quality
• all resources of organization are directed toward producing measurable goals
• things that can be measured are more highly valued than things that cannot,
for example numbers of people attending a meeting, newsletter circulation,
money spent are valued more than quality of relationships, democratic
decision-making, ability to constructively deal with conflict
• little or no value attached to process; if it can't be measured, it has no value
• discomfort with emotion and feelings
• no understanding that when there is a conflict between content (the agenda of
the meeting) and process (people's need to be heard or engaged), process
will prevail (for example, you may get through the agenda, but if you haven't
paid attention to people's need to be heard, the decisions made at the meeting
are undermined and/or disregarded)
Worship of the Written Word
• if itís not in a memo, it doesn't exist
• the organization does not take into account or value other ways in which
information gets shared
• those with strong documentation and writing skills are more highly valued,
• only one right way
• the belief there is one right way to do things and once people are introduced
to the right way, they will see the light and adopt it
• when they do not adapt or change, then something is wrong with them (the
other, those not changing), not with us (those who ëknowí the right way)
• similar to the missionary who does not see value in the culture of other
communities, sees only value in their beliefs about what is good
Paternalism
• decision-making is clear to those with power and unclear to those without it
• those with power think they are capable of making decisions for and in the
interests of those without power
• those with power often don't think it is important or necessary to understand
the viewpoint or experience of those for whom they are making decisions
• those without power understand they do not have it and understand who does
• those without power do not really know how decisions get made and who
makes what decisions, and yet they are completely familiar with the impact
of those decisions on them
Either/Or Thinking
• things are either/or, good/bad, right/wrong, with us/against us
• closely linked to perfectionism in making it difficult to learn from mistakes
or accommodate conflict
• no sense that things can be both/and
• results in trying to simplify complex things, for example believing that
poverty is simply a result of lack of education
• creates conflict and increases sense of urgency, as people are felt they have
to make decisions to do either this or that, with no time or encouragement to
consider alternatives, particularly those which may require more time or
resources
Power Hoarding
• little, if any, value around sharing power
• power seen as limited, only so much to go around
• those with power feel threatened when anyone suggests changes in how
things should be done in the organization, feel suggestions for change are a
reflection on their leadership
• those with power don't see themselves as hoarding power or as feeling
threatened
• those with power assume they have the best interests of the organization at
heart and assume those wanting change are ill-informed (stupid), emotional,
inexperienced
Fear of Open Conflict
• people in power are scared of conflict and try to ignore it or run from it
• when someone raises an issue that causes discomfort, the response is to
blame the person for raising the issue rather than to look at the issue which is
actually causing the problem
• emphasis on being polite
• equating the raising of difficult issues with being impolite, rude, or out of
line
Individualism
• little experience or comfort working as part of a team
• people in organization believe they are responsible for solving problems
alone
• accountability, if any, goes up and down, not sideways to peers or to those
the organization is set up to serve
• desire for individual recognition and credit
• leads to isolation
• competition more highly valued than cooperation and where cooperation is
valued, little time or resources devoted to developing skills in how to
cooperate
• creates a lack of accountability, as the organization values those who can get
things done on their own without needing supervision or guidance
• I’m the only one
• connected to individualism, the belief that if something is going to get done
right, “I” have to do it
• little or no ability to delegate work to others
antidotes: evaluate people based on their ability to delegate to others; evaluate
people based on their ability to work as part of a team to accomplish shared
goals
Progress is Bigger, More
• observed in systems of accountability and ways we determine success
• progress is an organization which expands (adds staff, adds projects) or
develops the ability to serve more people (regardless of how well they are
serving them)
• gives no value, not even negative value, to its cost, for example, increased
accountability to funders as the budget grows, ways in which those we serve
may be exploited, excluded, or underserved as we focus on how many we are
serving instead of quality of service or values created by the ways in which
we serve
Objectivity
• the belief that there is such a thing as being objective
• the belief that emotions are inherently destructive, irrational, and should not
play a role in decision-making or group process
• invalidating people who show emotion
• requiring people to think in a linear fashion and ignoring or invalidating
those who think in other ways
• impatience with any thinking that does not appear “logical” to those with
power
Right to Comfort
• the belief that those with power have a right to emotional and psychological
comfort (another aspect of valuing “logic” over emotion)
• scapegoating those who cause discomfort
• equating individual acts of unfairness against white people with systemic
racism which daily targets people of color
antidotes: understand that discomfort is at the root of all growth and learning;
welcome it as much as you can; deepen your political analysis of racism and
oppression so you have a strong understanding of how your personal
experience and feelings fit into a larger picture; don't take everything
personally
One of the purposes of listing characteristics of white supremacy culture is to
point out how organizations which unconsciously use these characteristics as
their norms and standards make it difficult, if not impossible, to open the door to
other cultural norms and standards. As a result, many of our organizations, while
saying we want to be multicultural, really only allow other people and cultures to
come in if they adapt or conform to already existing cultural norms. Being able to
identify and name the cultural norms and standards you want is a first step to
making room for a truly multi-cultural organization.
Comments